U.S. History II
Lecture 5, Chapters 19-20: Roosevelt, Grant, Wilson Administrations
When McKinley died a week after his assassination, Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest president in U.S. history (age 42). Roosevelt infused the presidency with an energy unseen in decades, especially when he arrived at the White House with his 6 children (one from his first wife who died in 1884, and 5 with his current wife). His oldest daughter, Alice Lee, caused a stir with her socializing and fast driving in Washington. Roosevelt is said to have told someone who asked him to control her, “I can be president of the United States or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.”
Roosevelt was a brilliant man with a forceful personality bolstered by a vigorous lifestyle. Roosevelt’s philosophy led him to forge a strong presidency within the bounds of the law. Roosevelt believed that as long as the Constitution did not prohibit the president from acting, he had the right to act.
Roosevelt was also the nation’s first media president. Newspapers and — later — motion picture newsreels told the story of the Roosevelt presidency. Roosevelt grasped the power of the camera and often posed for photographers and movie producers.
Roosevelt was the first president to fly in an airplane; ride in a submarine (he later ordered that submariners’ pay be raised by $10); own a car; and have a telephone in his house.*1*
Roosevelt inherited a nation whose population had grown by over 13 million over the past decade from 63 million in 1891 to 76 million in 1901. Most immigrants remained in the urban areas, and urban growth continued to outpace rural growth in the population.
The nation over which Roosevelt presided was entering the Industrial Revolution’s greatest period. Sears, Roebuck and Company introduced the mail-order catalogue in 1893 and by 1902 was mailing more than 1.5 million catalogues a year.
Roosevelt began his first term by acting against the trusts that had bedeviled the economy for nearly 2 decades. Roosevelt had seen the Democrats and Socialists gain voters because of the trusts’ manipulation of the economy. The Justice Department began acting by targeting the Northern Securities Company of James Hill, E.H. Harriman, and J.P. Morgan. This trust combined several railroads to eliminate competition and keep rates high. Farmers and businesses in the Midwest feared the trust would raise shipping rates.
J.P. Morgan was also behind the creation of United States Steel, the largest steel company in the nation. Morgan had paid Andrew Carnegie $480 million to buy his steel company and add it to other companies he represented. In modern terms, Carnegie’s $480 million would translate to over $6 billion in 2005 dollars, tax free. U.S. Steel had nearly 170,000 employees and controlled 60% of the American steel industry’s productive capacity.
Where the trust owners saw elimination of competition as a good thing, Roosevelt saw the effects of monopolies on small industries and businesses. When the Justice Department moved to enforce the Sherman Anti-trust Act against Northern Securities, the company sued. The Supreme Court ruled for the Justice Department by a 5-4 vote. Roosevelt’s popularity grew as voters saw him as the “trust-busting” president.
Roosevelt next moved to end the coal strike of 1902. Roosevelt brought representatives of the miners and owners to the White House to end the strike. Miners’ representatives accepted the president’s deal, but the owners refused until Roosevelt threatened to use soldiers to mine coal. The miners received a 10% pay increase. Roosevelt’s tendency to treat both workers and owners fairly was called the “square deal.”
Foreign Policy
Roosevelt was determined to maintain a strong foreign policy that built on the successes of the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt’s famous saying was, “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Roosevelt added battleships to the U.S. Navy. When Germany and Britain sent fleets to collect debts from Venezuela, Roosevelt intervened on behalf of Venezuela. Roosevelt also announced a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: the U.S. would intervene in Latin America if nations there refused to pay their debts. The Dominican Republic became the first test case of this doctrine in 1905, when Roosevelt sent troops into the nation to control the customs revenues and tax services.
Roosevelt smoothed relations with Great Britain, leading to closer ties between the nations. These ties were crucial during the upcoming World War.
Roosevelt’s greatest foreign policy achievement came in Panama. During the Spanish-American War, it had taken the battleship U.S.S. Oregon 2 months to sail around South America to join the fleet blockading Cuba. Secretary of State John Hay tried to negotiate a treaty with Columbia to build the canal in Panama, but the Columbian government held out for more money and objected to American requests for a 6-mile canal zone under complete American control. When Panamanian revolutionaries rebelled in 1903 for independence, the U.S. supported their cause. Roosevelt used the Navy to prevent the Columbians from quelling the revolt.
After Panama gained its independence, Hay signed a treaty with Panamanian representative Philippe Bunau-Varilla (the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty) that created a 10-mile canal zone in which the U.S. would have complete sovereignty in exchange for $10 million up front and $250,000 annual rent. When civilian contractors dragged on building the canal, Roosevelt replaced them with the Army. Roosevelt became the first president to leave the nation while in office to visit the canal.
When the canal was completed, the distance from New York City to San Francisco was cut from 14,000 miles to only 6,000 miles. As many as 27,000 workers may have died building the canal from disease and accidents, but at least 22,000 had died when the French attempted to build the canal in the 1880’s. American deaths decreased dramatically once the Army began intensive mosquito control under the command of Alabama native William Crawford Gorgas (of the Gorgas House family). The canal officially opened in 1914.
Roosevelt’s Second Term
Roosevelt faced only token opposition in the 1904 election and won handily. Roosevelt began working almost immediately to enact his Square Deal.
Roosevelt’s second term saw several reform movements sweep the nation. Prohibitionists continued to gain control in parts of the country. Proposals for direct primaries and direct election of U.S. senators also originated in this time. The movements went under the umbrella name of the Progressive Movement.
One of Progressivism’s greatest tools was the “muckraker,” a term describing a journalist that exposed corruption and unsanitary practices in businesses and governments. Muckrakers aroused public sentiment for reforms, leading to the passage of many of Roosevelt’s proposals.
Roosevelt started with railroads. The railroad regulation issue had raged since the 1870’s. Congress had passed the Elkins Act in 1903 prohibiting rebates; the Justice Department began enforcing the Act in Roosevelt’s second term. In 1906, Roosevelt amanged to guide the Hepburn Bill (for William Hepburn of Iowa) through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Roosevelt signed the Act into law after its passage. The Hepburn Act empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission to set maximum railroad rates, view railroads’ financial records, and govern other areas of railroad commerce.
With the passage of the Hepburn Act, Roosevelt turned to the meat-packing and drug industries. Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle had exposed the horrors of the meat-packing industry, and Roosevelt planned to act before the Democrats or Socialists could take advantage of public outrage. Roosevelt proposed a federal program for meat-packing inspection; Congress agreed. On 30 June 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act.
Roosevelt finally tackled the greatest monopoly in the nation: Standard Oil. Under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the government sued to break up Standard Oil. In the final settlement of 1911, the trust was divided into 34 separate companies, many of which still exist: ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Amoco are good examples. Rockefeller had retired in 1897 and no longer controlled the company.
Foreign Policy, Second Term
Roosevelt continued to increase America’s presence in the world. In 1905, Russia and Japan were nearing the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt offered to mediate the conflict and invited the two sides to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Treaty of Portsmouth ended the War and won Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize. (Roosevelt was the first American to ever win a Nobel Prize.)
Under his presidency, the U.S. Navy became the third-largest navy in the world behind Britain and Germany. Roosevelt sent 16 of the Atlantic Fleet’s battleships, with 14,000 sailors, on an around-the-world cruise. The fleet made 20 port calls on 6 continents. Although many of the fleet’s ships were outdated by the new British Dreadnought battleships, the “Great White Fleet” gave notice to the world — and especially Japan — that the U.S. Navy was now a global power.
Conservation
Roosevelt was an avid sportsman who loved the outdoors. He owned a ranch in the Dakotas during the 1880’s and often took his cabinet secretaries on long hikes during his presidency. Roosevelt created the U.S. Forestry Service and appointed Gifford Pinchot the first director. Roosevelt created 5 national parks, 51 bird reserves, and 150 national forests. All together, Roosevelt protected over 230 million acres of land.
Roosevelt would not run in the 1908 elections. When the Republicans needed a candidate, Roosevelt hand-picked his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft. The Democrats re-nominated William Jennings Bryan for the third time. When it seemed Bryan would finally win the presidency, Roosevelt made some major speeches in support of Taft. Taft won the election easily.
After Taft was inaugurated, Roosevelt took off on an African safari. Roosevelt and his party killed over 6,000 trophy animals on this safari.
Back in the U.S., Taft experienced major problems within his own party. Taft was a lawyer whose true dream in life was not the presidency but a Supreme Court appointment. Taft did not agree with Roosevelt’s expansion of executive power. Taft sided with the conservative Republicans, where Roosevelt had joined with Progressives in the Party to accomplish his agenda.
Taft’s problems began with the tariff. Taft sent Congress to pass a new tariff law that would decrease rates, but conservative Republicans watered down the rate. The bill that became law, the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, lowered the rate on certain goods to 41%. Progressives in the Republican Party were outraged that Taft would accept such a high rate.
Taft accomplished a great deal in spite of his fights with his fellow Republicans. Taft oversaw 2 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 16th Amendment allowed for Congress to pass a personal income tax, and the 17th Amendment mandated direct election for U.S. Senators. Taft also signed legislation creating the Department of Labor.
In foreign policy, Taft preferred what was called “dollar diplomacy,” in which U.S. corporations were encouraged to invest in Latin America and Asia. Taft believed that trade would help poor countries more than Marines. However, Taft kept Marines in Nicaragua after forcing the government to borrow money from the U.S. rather than from other European powers. This led to widespread resentment in Latin America from what was perceived as American interference. Dollar diplomacy didn’t work well in Asia, either, where it offended the Japanese.
Taft’s biggest problem came when Teddy Roosevelt returned home from Africa. Progressives, frustrated with Taft’s conservatism, welcomed Roosevelt back home with open arms; 100,000 people met him as he paraded from New York Harbor. Roosevelt at first did not quarrel with Taft in the open. Taft further angered the Progressives by refusing to appoint them to federal offices. Taft also opposed Arizona’s statehood when the territory enacted a Progressive constitution.
Roosevelt gave a series of speeches in 1910 that called for the “New Nationalism,” a program that relied on the strong executive power of the Presidency to enact reforms. Roosevelt called for an income tax, an inheritance tax on large fortunes, and for work laws for workers compensation and regulation of child labor.
Democrats took advantage of the Republican infighting to win large in the 1910 elections. The Democrats won the House of Representatives and narrowed the Republican majority in the Senate. Even worse for the Republicans, the Progressives in the Senate often crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats on reform issues.
Progressive Wins
Prohibitionists won votes in Oklahoma in 1907 and in 8 other states by 1914. Congress passed the Webb-Kenyon Act in 1913 that prohibited the transport of alcoholic beverages into “dry” states, but Taft vetoed it. Congress overrode his veto.
Little changed for black Americans. There was a glimmer of hope when Booker T. Washington had dined with Teddy Roosevelt in the White House, but the outcry of the nation against Roosevelt stymied his efforts to work against segregation.
Frustrated with Washington’s failure to accomplish change with his program, a group of black leaders met in Niagara Falls, Canada to form a new organization dedicated to destroying segregation. This group, which included W.E.B. DuBois, became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, in 1910. The group was incorporated in 1911. Interestingly, the first executives of the NAACP were white or Jewish; DuBois was the only black American on the executive board.
Women’s suffrage movements continued to gain steam, but they faced the dual issues of segregation (white Southerners were afraid women would vote for black suffrage) and Prohibition (anti-Prohibitionists were afraid women would vote for Prohibition).
Little progressive change occurred in the work place. Most workers were still unrepresented in labor talks, and corporations continued to have a large role in American politics and economic issues.
The 1912 Election: Taft vs. Roosevelt vs. Wilson
Taft’s break with Roosevelt became public in October 1911, when the Justice Department went after U.S. Steel for buying a coal company in the South. Roosevelt had personally approved this merger; to him, Taft’s action was a slap in the face.
Roosevelt decided in 1912 to challenge Taft for the presidential nomination the next year. Roosevelt won delegates where states held primaries (Progressive states); Taft won delegates where the Party continued to choose its own delegates. When the Republican National Convention met in Chicago, neither man had a majority of delegates. The Republican National Committee awarded the contested delegates to Taft, giving him a majority and the nomination. Roosevelt and his delegates left the Convention in disgust. 2 months later, Roosevelt founded the Progressive Party, better known by its nick-name the Bull Moose Party.
The Democrats gleefully watched the GOP self-destruct. The Democrats nominated New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson as their candidate. Wilson had served as president of Princeton University prior to entering politics, so he seemed the perfect Progressive candidate.
Roosevelt’s party supported an expanded presidency, women’s suffrage, and “social insurance.” Roosevelt also supported limiting anti-trust action to what he called “bad trusts” that did more harm to the nation than good.
Wilson soon realized that Taft was no obstacle and began campaigning against Roosevelt. Wilson called for greater anti-trust enforcement, more competition in a government-regulated economy, and eliminating child labor.
The election was not even close. Wilson won 435 electoral votes, Roosevelt 88, and Taft only 8. The Democrats swept both houses of Congress.
Wilson began his term by reviving an old tradition that had faded with Thomas Jefferson: the State of the Union address. Wilson gave the speech in person to Congress rather than mailing it to them as presidents had done since Jefferson. Wilson called on Congress to reduce import duties; Congress gave him the Underwood Bill. To offset lost revenue, the bill established an income tax on incomes over $4,000 a year, topping out with those who made more than $20,000 a year.
Wilson then turned to banking reform. The U.S. had not had a central bank to define monetary policy since Andrew Jackson’s presidency. Wilson initially supported a system of private bankers supervising reserve banks, but his Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, sold him on the idea of the federal government doing the supervising. The result was the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which established the Federal Reserve System now in place. In place of coining money directly, Congress delegated this responsibility to the Federal Reserve System. The “Fed” sets monetary policy through adjusting the federal funds rate (the rate banks must pay to borrow money from the Fed banks overnight) and through the purchase of bonds to control monetary supply (buys bonds to raise the money supply, sells bonds to lower the money supply).
In 1914, Wilson turned to the trusts. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 created regulations under which corporations could participate in the marketplace. Wilson later supported the creation of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to monitor competition.
Wilson’s greatest tests were yet to come. on 28 June 1914, 4,666 miles from Washington, D.C., archduke and heir to the Austrian throne Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sofie were assassinated by a Serb nationalist. Europe would soon plunge into World War I — and take the United States with it.
*1*source: Wikipedia.org, available online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_roosevelt.